Old songs, new songs, December songs

It’s a Tuesday night and after seventeen days of temperatures above 30 degrees (so someone told me today, and they sounded like they knew what they were talking about), the weather, as it does in this south-east Australian city, has turned on itself and the winter blankets are back on the bed. To celebrate the fact that, quite frankly, none of us really know what’s going to happen from day to day (just ask Australia’s Liberal Party, who are in opposition, and from what they’ve done today, put a man whose beliefs hark back to the 1950s, along with his mentor’s, the veritably evil John Howard, they should stay in opposition for quite some time…with any luck), here’s a mix of songs that just popped out of my head and into this nifty MixPod.com caper.

Along with a whole heap of great (though admittedly mostly maudlin) stuff, there are these gems: ‘Two’ by The Antlers, who are a band I’m only now discovering and on the evidence here I’ll probably be adoring within days; an alternate version of ‘Have You Forgotten’ by the often brilliant but now defunct Red House Painters; ‘Carry Me Ohio’ from a later reincarnation of RHP’s, Sun Kil Moon (surely that’s a guitar melody that would melt Johnny Marr’s heart); ‘Re: Stacks’ off Bon Iver’s extraordinary For Emma, For Ever Ago album, which is a collection best enjoyed on vinyl with a glass of your favourite alcoholic spirit in hand; and live takes of ‘Nantes’ by Beirut (from the TakeAway shows site), and ‘Slow Show’ by The National.

The songs are posted here for your listening pleasure, whether or not your weather’s all over the place, no matter how many blankets you need on your bed tonight. If you like the music, go buy the records.

[Sorry, the MP3s have now been removed, but do buy these bands’ records, because they’re great records from great bands!]